France goes to the polls to elect a new president

“The right. they don’t like the economic programme of Le Pen”, Bernard Cautres, a political scientist at Science Po’s Cevipof centre, told The Hindu.

“I will vote for Emmanuel Macron”.

The presidential poll has consequences for the future of the European Union, for France’s millions of Muslims and for world financial markets.

Mr Fillon said he would vote for Mr Macron on May 7 because Ms Le Pen’s programme “would bankrupt France” and throw the European Union into chaos.

Macron may face a hard task in winning sufficient backers in the French parliamentary elections in June, necessitating some kind of delicate political compromise with established centrist and left-wing parties.

Around six topless Femen activists were detained Sunday morning after jumping out of an SUV limo wearing masks of Le Pen and United States President Donald Trump.

As polls across the country closed, projections put far-left contender Jean-Luc Melenchon and conservative Francois Fillon just behind the front-runners.

“The fact that some 40 percent of French voters opted for far-right or far-left candidates with anti-EU and anti-globalization agendas means that populism is alive and well in Europe”, Brattberg said.

Macron’s wife, Brigitte, is 24 years his senior.

Security has played an important part in national debate since Thursday’s killing of a policeman by a suspected Islamist in Paris, with some arguing it could increase Le Pen’s chances.

“You have brought me to the second round of the presidential elections”, Le Pen told supporters in Henin-Beaumont in northern France.

France is now steaming into unchartered territory, because whoever wins on May 7 can not count on the backing of France’s political mainstream parties.

And assuming he wins the presidency on May 7, he will need broad support in the French parliament to turn his policy promises into legislation.

In Paris, protesters angry at Ms Le Pen’s advance – some from anarchist and anti-fascist groups – scuffled with police, who fired tear gas to disperse them.

A protest leader called on the public through a loudspeaker to rally “against Marine and against Macron”.

“He represents a new way to do politics, he promotes women, youth, people for the civil society and he’s not afraid to say that he is pro-Europe”, she said.

In clear reference to his far-right opponent, Macron said “I want to be the president of patriots against the threat of the nationalists”, he said.

French voters headed to the polls on Sunday to cast their vote for the country’s next president.

The former prime minister who lost the Republicans nomination to Fillon a year ago said he would vote “without hesitation” for Macron against the far-right, “which would lead France to disaster”.

“It’s more of a defeat from him than a victory for Emmanuel Macron”, he said. With his use of technology and media and his impassioned references to rebellion, even revolution, Mr. Melenchon appears to be striking a chord with a growing number of the left in the run-up to Sunday.

France, the world’s sixth-largest economy and a key player in Europe, has been under a state of emergency since the November 2015 terror attacks in Paris.

The election took place three days after a gunman killed a gay police officer and wounded two others on Paris’ Champs-Élysées.